Category: Water
When the revolution in Rojava began, the groundwater level was very low due mainly to industrial monoculture agriculture organised by the Syrian regime over the last four decades, as well as a decline in rainfall as a result of the global climate crisis.
In 2015, Turkey started to use water as a weapon against Rojava by holding back the water on the rivers which flow from Turkey to Syria through the dams it has been building over the last twenty years.
Then, in October 2019, Turkish state forces invaded some areas of North-East Syria, including the region of Serekaniye, which supplies water to almost half a million people in the region around Hasakah. The Alouk water station in Serekaniye was targeted on the first day of the invasion. Since then it has been fixed and then put out of service again repeatedly.
Since the start of the invasion of Serekaniye, Turkish military forces and their allies have continued to attack water infrastructure, burned newly planted orchards and dammed the rivers providing most of the fresh water and electricity to Syria. Hundreds of thousands of people are currently without safe reliable drinking water, a situation only exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the articles below, you can find more information about issues surrounding water and the struggles for water autonomy in North and East Syria. There are also articles here with information on issues around water in southeastern Turkey, such as Turkish megaproject the Ilisu Dam, whose waters have now submerged the ancient city of Hasankeyf, drowning thousands of years of largely unexcavated human history and displacing an estimated 100,000 people, while giving Turkey unprecedented control over waters of the wider region.
Solidarity against all odds: Humanitarian aid in North and East Syria
In the fourth part of our series of articles on of the tenth anniversary of the Rojava Revolution, Anita Starosta looked back at the Medico history in Rojava and discussed the importance of international humanitarian aid in Syria.
Women of Tell Necma village keep producing
The women living in Tell Tamer’s Tell Necma village play an important role in animal husbandry and agriculture while resisting the ongoing Turkish attacks.
Dry animal dung used as alternative to fuel in NE Syria
65-year-old Caziya Ileyat, who has grown vegetables in her small garden located in the town of Tell Tamer, has been engaged in agriculture since her childhood. She uses dry animal dung as an alternative to fuel.
State’s ecological apparatus: An interview with Zozan Pehlivan
In the summer of 2023, Mount Cudi is once again the site of significant wildfires, marking a recurring environmental challenge that has profound implications for the region which is an important part of the Kurdish geography. This event brings to the forefront an interview with Zozan Pehlivan, an environmental historian of the modern Middle East, the Ottoman Empire, and Ottoman Kurdistan, conducted in 2020, now translated into English by MedyaNews, that explores the intricate connections between ecology, economy, and history in Turkey, Kurdistan and beyond.
The multiple faces of the revolution
The people of Rojava and North-east Syria gave a lot of sacrifices, struggled so much and built so much with their own hands. They are connected to this revolution in such a way that it’s a part of them.
10th dam to be built on the Tigris River
The "Cizre Dam" project to be built on the Tigris River in Cizre was approved. Many settlements will be flooded by the new dam.
Expert proposals to tackle economic crisis in North and East Syria
The Syrian pound has lost its value against the dollar ten times over since 2020, and hundreds of times since the start of the Syrian revolution in 2011 – fuelling a worsening economic catastrophe across the country, including in the autonomous, Kurdish-led region of North and East Syria (NES). Locals report markets empty of customers, and a daily struggle to put bread on the table. Medya News spoke to Cheleng Omar, a leading Syrian Kurdish economist, to ask what steps can be taken to ameliorate the crisis.
How does the decline of the Euphrates impact lives in North and East Syria?
The majority of residents of northeastern Syria suffer from electricity and water shortage, especially drinking water. These problems are caused by the severe and continuous decline in the level of Euphrates River, and Turkey’s withholding of its water.
Environmental leaders in North and East Syria – interviews with Jazira Canton Municipality and ‘Keziyen Kesk’ organization
In the face of an array of ecological challenges, a range of actors in NES have been working to cultivate an “environmentally minded population”. RIC spoke with Berivan Omer, a member of Jazira region’s leadership board and the women’s ecology platform, Ziwer Shexo, a volunteer for Keziyen Kesk (‘Green Braids’), a popular environmental initiative, and
Turkey blocks flow of Euphrates, rendering 9 water stations in NE Syria inoperative
Turkey's decision to cut off the flow of water in the Euphrates River has resulted in nine water pumping stations in northern Syria being out of service, exacerbating the region's water crisis.
Tishrin Dam operates only 6 hours per day – AANES
Tishrin Dam, on Euphrates River, in the countryside of Manbij, northern Syria operates for only six hours a day, after 85 percent of its lake water level was depleted.
